Judge recuses himself from Kumaraswamy’s petition

Bangalore: A Karnataka High Court judge on Thursday recused himself from hearing the petition filed by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, seeking stay of proceedings in a lower court which had issued summons to him on a private plea alleging corruption in two cases.
When the petition came up, Justice BV Pinto recused himself stating that the complainant was advocate Vinod Kumar, who had practised under him and referred the case to the Chief Justice to be assigned to any other bench.
The cases filed before the Special Lokayukta court accuses Kumaraswamy of corruption charges in bulk land allotment to a housing society and granting permission to renew licence of a mining company during his tenure as chief minister for "pecuniary gains".